Makes me wanna cry..

The transformation that Madison goes through from being a helpless infant to the toddler that she is today is truly amazing. I am so glad to have taken the time and effort to try and capture some of this in words, because my memory is so bad, the little things just don't stick.

Today, I had to go to work ( some semblence of it..) after we'd spent a pretty nice early morning together. Madison is getting used to it because I make a little ritual of it. We play and then I go off and pack my gear, get dressed, then finally I say my goodbye. I try and keep it lighthearted, I go: see you later, tata for now! Then I give her a hug and leave.

Initially she would wail and cry and we'd have to distract her. A few times I was naughty and chose to sneak out, but once she realized and was crying as I left. Of course I felt terrible.

Today, she reached out to me as we said our goodbyes, and initiated a hug! I was really touched. She didn't cry or make a fuss, just wanted to hug me and she said " sayang..." which is malay for "love"... then she tried to delay me leaving by wanting to play in her crib, but I had to go and so said my goodbyes and gave her a kiss.

It was amazing.. I tried so hard not to cry ... it's indescribable when your child reciprocates your love unconditionally, and at such a young age too!

Bacteria, bacteria...

Another week has flown past...

Here I am, sitting at the clinic at Joo Chiat, wondering what to do next. Sigh. Came in this morning because my clinic assistant managed to lacerate her nose cleaning the clinic floor. Amazing. Stitch above CA's nose. Check.

Wonder when, if ever the clinic will pick up enough to resemble a decent practice. Wonder, if it's worth the effort.

The other clinic at Balestier is slightly more encouraging, as it is established as a dental practice and people know it exists. Still, it's pretty quiet compared to the other clinics I've worked at. Of course I know it takes time to build up a practice, but this is frustrating.

Patients arrive at ad hoc, even though we try and schedule appointments, but the nature of family practice in Singapore is as such. It's really quite tiring shuttling 2 places that are 15 to 35 minutes apart, depending on traffic.

3 years? 5 years? How on earth am I going to make enough for us to afford another place???!!

Sigh.

On a brighter note, Madison's speech is progressing at an amazing pace, she is speaking in phrases already and imitates much of what we say. This morning something really funny happened. We were in the bathroom while I was putting on my contact lenses and she wandered over to the toilet bowl. I said : " Bacteria, Madison! Don't touch !". She repeated the word "bacteria" very clearly and then thought about it for awhile. Suddenly she got really upset and started to cry. She kept repeating the word "bacteria, bacteria" while sobbing.

At first I didn't know what suddenly happened. I led her out of the bathroom and asked her what was wrong. She just kept saying " bacteria, bacteria " .. I really wanted to laugh but that would have been wrong.... so I got her to drink some water instead.... to kill the bacteria...naughty mama...

Argh....

The stupid renovation cheque. Our condominum regulations stipulate that prior to any renovation being conducted we have to put a $500 cheque deposit to guard against damage to common property. They return the cheque after the renovation is completed.

Of course I had to forget to record the cheque number down. And the stupid management people have now seemed to have missplaced the cheque! Horrors!

Of course the best thing is to cancel the cheque, which by the way isn't FREE...$30 if done by the bank staff and $15 if done by phone banking... but OF COURSE you need the cheque number!!! Argh.. I could just about kill myself.

I thought : hey, why not just look through the entire statement and cancel the ONE cheque that hasn't been banked in yet... BUT of course I forgot to take the stupid banking device for internet banking with me this morning!

On a lighter note. I had a great day with Madison yesterday, we managed to go shopping in Orchard road for a gift for Mia, my cousin's 6month old daughter in Sydney. It is a rare occasion that I would take Madison to town by myself... but we did ok. I tried using the Ergo carrier initially but she was struggling and wanting to ride the escalators, so we were using it on and off. I went to the Gap shop in Wisma and was able to browse while Madison amused herself with a full length mirror in the shop. She would occasionally pull some items off the shelf but fortunately it was a quiet afternoon so the staff weren't too pissed about it.

After I had successfully paid for the items I decided to take a coffee break and the easiest shop .. sob sob was MOS burger.. so sad.... but it was the closest. Just when we had both settled down to a booth to drink .. GUESS what!! I left my card wallet back at the Gap store!!! I could DIE.

So .. up we were AGAIN. Thank goodness the wallet was still at the shop, kept by the kind staff at Gap. Sigh.

Today.. I wanted to post the said item to my cousin... ARGH... the post office is pretty hopeless. It was a toss between the Takashimaya branch or the newly renovated one at Killiney road. For novelty sake I chose the latter. What a ridiculous waste of time. The staff this afternoon were really slow and clueless. I didn't get anywhere near my queue number after a good 20 minutes of waiting. Despite the crowd they were actually still trying to sell DVD players to customers instead of just doing their job!

So I still have to go to the post office later... sigh...

Birthday wishes...

Officially another year older ...

Actually the day started pretty depressing... Madison woke early , Chris had work ...

I didn't end up blocking the clinics since they are quiet as it is ...

After breakfast to avoid tv watching I initially planned to take Madison to the playground but it was too wet...

So after some deliberation ...(worth the drive ???)I packed her up to head to the gardens .
It was a good decision ... We had fun watching the swans and people, feeding the fish and wandering around.

I ended up being called to work, which was good as then afterward I got time off to drop by the club, have lunch and then waste some time trying
to sort out a missing cheque (renovation deposit )...

Pa's away in sri lanka so the family dinner was postponed.
Ma bought some food from a north Indian restaurant and pizza from pepperoni's for dinner.
Kay shin made a potato salad and a beef stew as well.

Chai surprised me with a lovely basket of flowers too ...

Sucky day turned out pretty good in the end ..

Iphone

I finally got an iphone last week!

Actually Chris was the one who did all the internet booking, then confirming and collecting of the phone for me... we were going to get 2 but I thought it would be safer to start with one and see how we liked it before getting another.

Anyway.. if it was left up to me, I'd have done nothing about getting the phone so it was great of Chris to do it all.

It's been great fun! I was a little cynical about the iphone, seeing how so many people had it already, and was actually looking at other interesting phones in the market to replace my slightly ageing ( in today's technological world ) phone.

Now I know why the phone is so addictive! It provides a mobile internet source, like a constant connection to the world.. the computer is basically at your service as long as the phone is with you.

I've already signed up with the iTunes store, posted pics on Facebook using the phone, and checked email several times on the go. Surfing the net is limited mainly by the Wi Fi speeds that you get outside.. 3G is probably too expensive to use to surf for prolonged periods... I'd hate to see the bill at the end of the month!

Next thing would be to blog on the go...

Pets

We got some fish for pets over the weekend!

Ok.. so fish aren't exactly the interactive type of pets but they are a good start. We have 3 dogs at my parents' place already and I think I would like to have one too in the future, but maybe when Madison is older and can help look after it.

Actually the fish were a spur of the moment thing... Chris and I were at the local wet market shopping for fruit and some ribs when we passed a fish store. So I asked the guy how hard it was to keep some fish and he said "easy! " ( kinda, hand me the cash and I'll set you up... )

$60 bucks and a stroller full of stuff later we were off home in a hurry to continue the day.. ( I had to rush to work and Madison had Chinese class ) We managed to set the tank up, complete with the air bubbling device and filtration pump!

I've told Madison that the fish need to eat twice a day, and I realise initially we have to do it regularly with her so that she gets the hang of it. I think its good training for children to have some responsibility even at an early age.

So far she's been enjoying feeding the fish ( and making a mess in the process ) , poking at the tank ( which frightens the fish a little ) and watching them swim in the tank.

The next task we have to do soon is to change the water in the tank without killing or maiming the fish... water looks slightly murky to me already...

National day holidays!

I decided I needed a well deserved break from shuttling around the clinics.

Sunday was the National day holiday so that made Monday an official day off. Taking Friday and Saturday just made sense to extend it into a nice 4 day break. ( of course it would happen that patients would suddenly pop up when they refused to the rest of the week! BLAH! )

Anthony is in town too, so that was perfect.

Friday Chris was working so it was Madison's and my day. We went to the Botanic Gardens for brekkie with Chris, and stayed on afterwards. I took her to the Jacob Ballas children's gardens to wander around, and even had an impromptu gathering with a group of mummies who happened to be there for their weekly get together. But in honesty, I found them a little intimidating.. these SAHM who meet and seem to know quite a bit about kiddy type things.. I felt pretty clueless and small around them....

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, went out with Pa to get sashimi for dinner... bought a new swim suit... Madison got brand new goggles. That was a mini drama in itself. Apparently she freaked out when they put a pair of red goggles over her eyes.. and freaked the sales girl out too!

Saturday came too quickly...
Madison had her hua yu class in the morning, daddy had his with her, and I got my cuppa and a good read at Macca's while waiting...

The evening was spent at the club ( again! ). Madison enjoys the playroom and we took her for a dip in the pool when it got cooler in the evening. ( I still turned a shade darker though! ) Alfresco dinner, out door music and freshly cooked satay... how could you beat that!

Sunday heralded HOT weather... PICNIC day... 1st ever at the beach with Madison. It was great, apart from the sweltering heat. Of course I had a 'brilliant' idea to rent a bike, cycle with our gear to the pit stop and have a picnic lunch.

Of course I didn't expect BAD traffic at the beach. And lousy parking which meant a bit of a hike to the shop ( although Madison was great, and 'jogged' that distance too!) So at the end of that it meant we were cycling in the terrible heat and Madison kind of feel asleep at the back of the bike!

But lunch was great. We all enjoyed the meal on the sand, under some coconut trees. We had sand dumped on the food initially but she was good and stopped it when told to do so.

Cycling back was another story, but we made it... and even went to the Carl's Junior drive through...